Internet and website based information sharing and exchanging system has been successfully expanding our information sharing capability in the last twenty years. The Internet carries an extensive range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support email. However, the information system solely based on internet protocol (IP) and websites is inefficient in satisfying the need of individual and immediate information exchanging and application services. This is mainly due to its indirect connection between the service user and the subject of information, especially for the subjects that relate to physical existence. Other obstacles for regular service users include the high cost in establishing and advertising a website, the technical obstacle of making hypertext webpages and links, and its dependency on search engine to find related information contents, etc.
Location based information services appeared in recent years are largely limited in their capability of information management, usage flexibility and scope of applications. These service systems are short of methods to enable setting up location based information services freely at anywhere and for any user. These systems are still expensive to setup and they are not well integrated with existing communications network and location based control systems. Furthermore, their transmitted information is not user-friendly and there is a short of methods for correlating information contents to users' needs and interests. As a result, regular customers find it hardly useful to load such location based applications on their computer devices.
These problems associated to the Internet and location based information system have made it hard for unskilled and common information service users, like small business owners and housewives, to have a place or network space to post and exchange their information timely and cost-effectively with others who have high and immediate information interest with them. Even for skilled internet users, the amount of time and effort used to search for certain information contents on the websites and to find useful information from a large amount of data are frequently significant and very unproductive. More importantly, the subject of information has an important role in information society and informatization construction. The existing information system is incapable to provide smart and connected information services such that the information and application provided have strong correlations and connections to the service users' needs in life and activities.
To solve these identified insufficiency and to bring the next generation smart and connected information service system to reality, this invention presents the location and relationship based information exchange and application service system that first builds up direct referral link between a landmark client account and a declared landmark by defining a landmark client and registering a landmark client account with identity reference to the landmark. The landmark client account stores information and applications associated to the landmark client as well as their access and usage rules. A service user connects to the information service system via a user client account that stores information and applications associated to the user client as well as access and usage rules for accessing the account content and for accepting information and applications.
The information service system determines a relationship between the landmark client and the user client using the landmark location data and the user client's navigation data as well as other client identity and configuration information. The service next builds up information exchange and application operation connections between the landmark client and the service user client by satisfying their specified information access and usage rules under prescribed relationship situations. After that, permission to access authorized information and applications between the clients is granted. The service is able to intelligently and dynamically correlate information resources with information users based on their formulated information interest with respect to their position and activity evaluations.
The basic motivation of the innovative location and relationship based information service system is that a large amount of information is related or associated to certain subjects. And, most of the information in need has strong correlation to an information service user's life and activities including position, environment, time, social status, identification, behavior and intention, etc. Better information connectivity can be established through a mechanism that intelligently relates the user to the subject of information based on situational conditions. Better usage flexibility and connectivity are achieved by enabling service users to formulate their information interest in situational rules. And a larger scope of applications can be realized by enabling location based information services to be established and reached at anywhere, at any time, and by any users.
These objectives are all achieved by the present invention. First, in this system, any user can create client account for posting and exchanging information and applications that relate to a declared landmark without relying on IP, WWW or hypertext webpages. For example, a housewife can declare her house as a landmark and post yard sale information on the landmark client account for sharing with local Moms. There will be no technique obstacle for maintaining such an information resource, no website cost and no waste on advertising a website to irrelevant information users. Second, information associated to subjects can be efficiently organized with well-targeted contents and user groups by formulating relationship situations to correlate contents to interested users. An information user whose virtual or physical navigation has strong relationship with a landmark will be connected to an information resource representing the landmark since the information contents on that resource will potentially have strong correlation with the service users' activity and information in need. Information exchange and application channels are thus more directly and immediately established between information providers and the service users. And the cost on information service maintenance and the effort in finding useful information and applications are all optimally minimized.